Instant Coffee

Instant Coffee Plant Design

TEC Square designs instant coffee plants with the operation and maintenance of our customers in mind. As a matter of fact, all of our key engineers have spent multiple years in manufacturing facilities. As such we understand the importance of ergonomic design and optimized work-flows.In the second place it should be noted that we design our installations with flexibility in mind. Given these points is possible to invest in a simple solution at first, keeping the option open to upgrade to a better solution at a later stage. Altogether, in our deign we allow for the possibility to:

Add more capacity

Increase extraction yield

Increase the level of product quality

Add additional options in automation

This graph represents a theoretical case and values should not be interpreted in a relative way. Options in quality, automation and others could hugely influence the investment

To summarize, TEC Square developed a flexible instant coffee project concept that will allow to invest in exactly what you need. Furthermore, it will allow to add more technologies a later stage, when you require better products or special features. Flexibility is key when you want to try out the markets and have to determine your marketing approach.

Simple Approach – Low Initial Investment

If your objective is to try out the market with reduced investment, we propose a very simple solution. As a result you avoid investment into unnecessary capacity and technologies in the beginning. It is however important to realize that the end-product quality depends on the kind equipment that will be used. A “simple investment” would typically have

A reduced number of extraction cells, allowing the addition of capacity later on

Long Cells (These extraction cells are very common in the industry). We should however emphasize that, though long cells are cheaper, they also reduce the potential to high-end solutions

Simple aroma recovery equipment

Falling film evaporation

Simple spray drying technologies

Advanced Approach – Adding Technology

On the other hand, when your objective is to have a product that differentiates itself from the competition, we can provide you with a advanced solution as well. In order to operate a high-end instant coffee plant, two choices are important

Wide body extraction cells – The choice of wide-body extraction technology (in comparison to long cells) allows for much shorter cycle times. A shorter cycle time will evidently benefit the overall quality aspect of the end-product. (see our extraction page)

Number of Extraction Cells – When the plant has more extraction cells, it is possible to achieve a better final end-product quality. It will also allow to achieve a higher extraction yield.

As shown above, the quality of the extraction process will determine the Instant Coffee quality. However, in order to achieve the same quality in the end-product, the downstream process should be capable of maintaining such quality as well. Therefore we design our aroma-, evaporation and drying systems in such a way, that we preserve the right taste- and aroma-profile for your marketing campaign. Below we detail our standard line, but also give several options to improve on quality and/or operation.

Standard Process

The quality of instant coffee is primarily defined by the quality and blend of the green coffee beans and the roasting process.For instant coffee however, every subsequent manufacturing step is likely to impact on the quality in a negative sense. For this reason it is extremely important that an instant coffee line is well designed in terms of quality and flexibility. The quality of the downstream equipment defines in the end the quality of you cup of coffee. For this purpose TEC Square can suggest quality solutions for each and every process step.

TEC Square is a specialist in instant coffee manufacturing. We employ engineers and operational managers with extensive operational experience. Our team of dedicated engineers has worked with the top manufacturers in the world. They have also worked at the limits of design possibilities in terms of quality, capacity and flexibility. Our team has supplied solutions for effective optimization plants as well.

Aroma Recovery

TEC Square has installed flexible aroma Systems is several factories. This process uses a combination of a

Series of Condensers – to discard unwanted aromas and select those aroma that are needed for the final product

TEC Square has developed a very compact design, that as a consequence can be fitted next to a falling film evaporator. As a matter of fact, we prefer to operate the unit in line with evaporator to capitalize on synergies.Please visit the dedicated Aroma Recovery page for more information on the functioning of our aroma recovery set-up.

High-TS Concentration

TEC Square has installed a “High Total Solids concentration” plant in many factories. For this purpose TEC Square uses the unique potential of a wiped film evaporator as a finisher. Such an investment should normally have a good pay-back, as it brings several benefits for operation.

Less operational losses on the your evaporatorA wiped film evaporator is designed for high total solids applications. As a consequence this will allow you to reduce the set-point in TS on the existing evaporator. This in turn has the advantages, that the existing evaporator will have less operational losses (1% savings n raw material are not uncommon) and much longer operational run times.

More aroma additionAs a wiped film evaporator can easily concentrate up to 60% Total Solids without any real product losses, more aroma addition does not impact the final concentration for freeze of spray drying. You want more aroma, just concentrate higher.

Higher and more consistent drying operationThe overall plants output is often defined by the dryer operation. A higher and more consistent TS provided to the drying operation, will result in higher yearly capacities. As a result gains in yearly capacity are often 2-5%, but could be much higher.

High TS Spray Drying

High Total Solids Spray Drying will be the new trend in Spray Drying. The process provides additional capacity on a single tower of often up to 25%. At the same time it gives a better end-product quality as a High-TS process has a higher aroma retention capability.Please visit the dedicated High Total Solids Spray Drying page for more information on this solution

Low Impact Concentration

TEC Square developed the “Low Impact Thermal Concentration” process to provide a cost-effective alternative against freeze concentration. In essence, the Low Impact Thermal Concentration process has all the advantages of freeze concentration. However advantages are plentiful. Firstly it is much more flexible. Secondly it delivers much higher concentrations. And thirdly operational and investment costs are reduced.For more information please see the information on our dedicated page.Please visit the dedicated Low Impact Thermal Concentration page for more information on this solution

In-line Agglomeration

Most instant coffee factories have separate plants for spray drying and agglomeration. TEC Square provides an integrated solution with may operational advantages.

In a normal operation up to 4 FTE’s (Full Time Employees) per shift can be saved using an integrated approach

An integrated approach allows for much easier dry reworking possibilities.